"Yelp Me, Yelp You!"

I started yelping back in May 2009, but was never really consistent with it. My first yelp review was not under my current account (and I don't know where it is now...) but it was to rant about horrible service I had in a downtown San Diegan Italian restaurant that I'm fairly confident no longer exists.

I use this site almost religiously whenever I'm in a new area. Usually, I'm passing through, but it's been a big help now that I've relocated.

Since I use it so much, I thought I would finally give back and let's face it: I'm opinionated and when it comes to food, I know what I like and I know what I don't like.

Mesa Cafe's Corned Beef Hash
Eggs Benedict

I was keeping a private list of favorite restaurants, which I would occasionally update, but this is so much easier to use, since it has all the information I usually need AND (as I'm sure most of you with smart phones know) it has its own app. I haven't reviewed all of my favorites, but I will so that I can remember them when I return. (I'm thinking about you, Boston and San Diego!!)

Taqueria Los Tarascos assortment 

of street tacos

I know many of you don't see what the big deal is about this site. But, just so you can see how helpful and entertaining it can be, I invite you to read a few of the posts from my friends, the Yelp Elite: Erica "Zombie Killer" P. (helpful) and her husband Chun "49% Gay/ 51% Cheapass" P. (entertaining, so much so that I'm usually LMAO!)

Goleta Sushi House's Chirashi

Feel free to friend me Kim "Kimikat" V. to follow some of my culinary adventures and to make some suggestions. I used to be all sugar and no spice on this account, but now, the truth comes out. After all, who wants to be lured into a crappy restaurant?!

Recent reviews by Kim V.

What's this?

A Phung-fastic weekend!

My good friend Erica Phung came to see me this weekend. I've had visitors every weekend I've been in SB and mostly we would walk around State Street and eat. This time was a little different.

Instead of just looking at different restaurants to try and roaming downtown SB, Erica and I looked for activities that could be fun in between all those meals. Our first crack was a boot camp that began at 8:30am on a Saturday morning. Well, at least according to the local paper, the Independent. We were so excited that we woke up early enough to give this a try, only to get to the fitness center and find out that the class had been cancelled... boo!!!

Crab Cake Eggs Benedict

Not to be discouraged, we decided to go to Cajun Kitchen for breakfast. A co-worker of mine recommended this place, and yelp gave it good reviews, so I thought, let's try it! (It was also right around the corner from the Boot Camp that didn't happen.) I got the Crab Cake Eggs Benedict and some OJ. It was good, but not as good as Erica's Hot Link Sausage. That in itself was amazing! (No picture, sorry.) The hash browns were indeed, awesome, as the reviews said.
After breakfast, we decided that we needed to commit to our earlier agenda of getting in some fitness in our day, so we ended up at Yasa Yoga for their "YASA Yin and Yang" course:

Enjoy a 45 minute YASA style flow, balanced by 45 minutes of yin yoga. During the yin portion of the class, students will explore longer holds, fewer poses and work with subtle energy to balance their yang practice. The perfect addition to any day to leave you feeling balanced and blissful. Suitable for All Levels.

Yeah right! That class was taught in a warm studio (about 85F) and kicked my butt! Granted, I'm working towards getting healthier, but this class was hard! So hard, in fact that all I wanted to do afterwards was take a nap. BUT, I had company, so that wasn't going to happen.

Pumpkin strip

After we freshened up, we headed to State Street for some shopping and stopped at Andersen's Bakery for a very late lunch. We were starved after that class! (At least I was!) The food was good, and the pumpkin strip was to die for! This may not look all that interesting, but the description peaked my curiosity: "A pumpkin pie in a pastry".  This was DELICIOUS!!! It was so good, that Erica came back the next day to bring some home! (If you want to know what I think of the service, that's a whole other story...)

This meal hit the spot. Full of delicious food, we returned to my place to take a quick rest. I had read in the Independent that they had a "Latin/Swing/Ballroom" lesson on Saturday nights at the Santa Barbara Dance Center. I'm still new to the area and wanted to try out the place for their Tuesday Salsa classes and asked if Erica was interested in going. We found out it was Lindy Hop night and even though Erica is pretty much an expert at Lindy, she was up for anything.

Don't judge me, but in order for me to make it out that night, I had to take a nap. I'm an awful host, but it just had to happen. To my defense, it was only about 15 minutes.

The lesson turned out to be fun. I learned the basics of a Charleston and Lindy Hop and felt like a Mexican jumping bean with all the hopping that was involved. It ain't called Lindy HOP for nothin'!!

Erica left in the late morning on Sunday after we had breakfast and I took the rest of the day and night to recover. All I gotta say is, what a great weekend!

Muchas gracias Beto!

Although I haven't mentioned it lately, my "to-do" list has been on my mind. I've been scouring newspapers and googling websites to see if I can fulfill some of those activities that I spoke of several months ago.

Today, I went for my first Zumba class. According to wikipedia, this class was founded by Alberto "Beto" Perez in Columbia. If you know me at all, you know I love to dance. I've been dying to try this class since I heard about it a while ago. It was a mixture of Samba, Tango, Salsa, Cumbia and Cha-Cha. I was the youngest person in there by about 10-15 years. I was fine with that, and had fun taking the class. However, I think I'm looking for a more advanced one. Considering the audience, I feel like I can find a younger crowd that can make the class a wee bit more ... let's say, youthful.

In any case, I think the idea of this class is awesome. What a great way to get some exercise in without feeling like it was a work out. And for that, I say, "Muchas Gracias Beto!" for accidentally creating a fun way to get exposure to different music and dance styles.

I'm still looking into Salsa classes, and other ways to check off that list, but stay tuned. =)

Table for 1

Lately, I've been dining alone. It's not something that I have done a lot in my life, and I used to feel a lot more uncomfortable about it, but when you are alone in a new town, frankly, you just don't have a lot of choice. That is, unless you want to eat a lot of take out.

Anyway, I arrived really late in the evening on my first day in Santa Barbara. Considering my flight arrived in Phoenix at 7:30pm and my connecting flight was due to leave at 8:05pm in a completely different terminal, I had to run like a bat out of hell, barely made my flight, and didn't have time to stop for a bite to eat. (I was just glad I made my plane, although my luggage didn't until a day later.)

Looking on my yelp app, I looked for something that was open at 10:15pm on a Sunday evening. Elephant Bar was the first thing to pop up. I went there, only to see that they changed their hours and closed at 10. My search continued. I found another place and went on my way.

Instead of going there, Takenoya caught my eye since it had a flashing "Open" sign. Also, I had been eating a lot of heavy food, so I thought sushi would be a light meal that would be somewhat healthy.

I walked in and got seated quickly, since it was relatively empty. I ordered a Sprite, but they didn't have it. No worries there, I ordered a milk tea, which I realized I wanted after I ordered anyway.

I then looked at the menu and ordered a Red Dragon Roll: Tuna and avocado on top of a spicy tuna roll, and a Take Tower: Sushi rice, spicy tuna, avocado, crab meat and seared bay scallop with a special sauce.

This was an enormous portion. Even though I hadn't eaten all day, I couldn't finish it all. Well, especially since I realized I'm not a fan of the special sauce on the Take Tower. I spent a good portion of the time scrapping it off. ick! Mayo and sushi to me is like cream cheese and sushi. It's just not right.

Sadly, I have to admit that this meal didn't sit well with me. In fact, it woke me up at 2am and kept me up until about 3:45am. I won't go into detail, but let's just say I'm not going back there... EVER. Oddly, it didn't taste bad, but the combination just upset my digestive system.

This was quite unfortunate, since I had to start work the next day...

Happy 10th Anniversary to my fellow Contikians!

It’s been a full decade since I first ventured abroad. I was 24 and had never been out of the continental US. Not even to TJ, even though it was only 20 minutes south of me. (Believe it folks…)

Image from google

That year, several friends were going overseas: one friend to Japan, another to Korean, and yet another to India. I remember thinking, “why not me?” My cousin (Chris) had just finished her BA in Communications, also from UC San Diego and we were hanging out over the summer. During one of our regular Puzzle Fighter wars, we were talking about our friends’ travels (some of her friends were also heading off the mainland) and decided that we should go somewhere too!

She, also, was an international-border-crossing virgin. Immediately, we were able to decide upon Europe. Many of our friends had gone backpacking there, which gave us the confidence that we could do it too. Independently we came up with where we wanted to go. I always wanted to go to Spain and France, and if I remember right, she wanted to go to Italy and England. In any case, what I do remember is that logistically, we were not picking similar areas.

We decided to think about it some more and regroup. On our next session, Chris mentioned that one of her roommates (Daria) went on a tour with a company called Contiki. For those of you who aren’t familiar, this is a touring company that markets to 18-35 year olds. They have different destinations and agendas to fit your needs. Anyway, her friend raved on about how much fun she had, so Chris and I started looking into packages.

European Vista Contiki 2011

We wanted to go for 3 weeks and selected their European Vista tour. This was a 20 day trip that went through: England, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Switzerland. (If I remember it right.) Today the same trip has changed, but you still get the idea. 

This map gives you an idea of what we were doing, but we didn't go to the Czech Republic or through Rhine Valley.

Daria told us that she had a blast and made a few really good friends on the trip.  Since this was right after 9/11, we were the only US citizens on the tour. There were about 5 or 6 Canadians, 2 gals from Japan, a guy from Peru (I think, it's been a decade, hard to remember now!) and a bunch of Ozzies. By a bunch, I mean about 45. They were the friendliest group of people and instead of hanging out in smaller groups, we hung out with practically everyone. Chris and I definitely lucked out in that collectively our tour group was very social and we got to know a lot of great people.

Group Photo in Italy

The girls on the boat cruise

At Hofbraeuhaus in Munich with Aaron, Lou, Carl, Steve, Holly, Katherine, Chris and Sam

Although it's been a decade since we left (holy cow!), I still keep in touch with several of them. This is quite a feat since this was when email was relatively new and FB didn't exist! Not only that, but I have been able to see them either when I was visiting or when they were.

Laura and me in Victoria, Australia

Me and Cath in Central Park, NY

Steve, Rita, me and Carl in Melbourne

I hope to add a few more pictures to these (when I find them and when I am able to take more). And for your viewing pleasure a few great shots of Europe:

View from the boat

Moulin Rouge in Paris

The Coliseum in Rome

Congratulations to Coral and Chris!

Di Tien and Uncle Jim had a daughter several years after they were married. They named her Coral because they met on a Florida beach and wanted to commemorate that moment with their first child.

 I was 8 at the time and I was elated to have a cousin. At the time she adored me as well. I remember that she would run around the house squealing my name with delight “Kimmy! Kimmy! Kimmy!” We used to sit at the kids’ table in the kitchen for dinner and Coral would happily entertain Steve (my brother) and me by dumping food on her head and in her diaper.  We couldn’t help but be in hysterics when she was up to her shenanigans.

When I was 14, I lived with my aunt, uncle and cousin for a semester down in Tequesta, Florida. One day, Coral and I were watching tv and Connie Selleca was in a Pantene commercial. I don’t remember what we were watching, but I do remember Coral mesmerized by her and when she said, “Wouldn't you love hair this healthy and shiny?” Coral stared, nodded and murmured, “Mmmm, hmmm!”

This is a picture of Coral and my her brother Gary. It's a few years after said commercial brainwashing, but she's still just as cute!

It should have hit me then that she might have wanted to go into Marketing! (Which she did!)


Fast forward 20 years, not only does she have the hair that surpasses Connie Selleca's, but she's got some amazing style too! 

Me, Coral, Chris, and Steve

Earlier this month, I had the honor of witnessing her marriage to a great man. This wedding weekend is what sparked my family appreciation month. Congratulations you two! 

Chris, welcome to the family!!

My they grow up so fast! (tear)

Happy Birthday Uncle Jim!

The good thing about family is that when you are close and spend a lot of time together, you have lots of stories about each other. The bad thing about family is that when you are close and spend a lot of time together, you have lots of stories about each other…

Although I have a lot of relatives (my mom is the oldest of 10, my dad youngest of 8), I’m not particularly close to most of them. My mom is closest to her eldest younger sister, (Di Tien) which is the one that I have known all my life. When I was younger, we used to live in Indiana and Di Tien lived in Illinois, in a suburb really close to Chicago. Since we were only about a 4-hour drive away, I used to see my aunt quite a bit, often spending part of my summers with her and my Uncle Jim, her husband. Quick lesson in Vietnamese, "Dì" = "Younger aunt on mother's side"


One summer, when my brother (Steve) and I were visiting, she taught us how to make chocolate chip cookies.  With our “help,” we made five dozen cookies. Quite a feat for us youngsters not to tear into them right away!

Lincoln Park Zoo

While we waited for the cookies to cool, she suggested that we take a walk to the Lincoln Park Zoo. If I remember right, it was a hot day, and when we got to the zoo, most of the animals were inside. I was pretty disappointed and remember inquiring, ok, whining, “what kind of zoo is this if it has no animals!?”

After a few hours, we went back to my aunt’s and were excitedly anticipating a cookie treat after the disappointment we encountered at the zoo.  We opened the door, and went to the kitchen. To our astonishment, ALL the cookies were gone!

Poof! 

Vanished!

Bewildered, my aunt called out, ”Jim! Are you home?” He came out and my aunt asked him about the cookies and he said that he ate them. All SIXTY of them…  with some milk, of course.

Can you guess his nickname?

Cookie Monster

So, for his birthday this year, I decided to hit him where it hurts and made some chocolate chip and pecan cookies: a plate for him and a plate for everyone else. Not six dozen, after all, we all need to watch our figures! 

Happy Birthday Uncle Jim!